Page 62 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

“Kids, get behind me,” he snapped as a pair of large shadows came bounding out of the aisles toward them. Lucy gasped, and Shinji’s heart dropped as the creatures stalked forward. They looked like dogs, big Doberman pinschers, except they were made of metal like Tinker. Their bodies were of black iron, their skulls were sleek metal, filled with rows of razor teeth. Their eyes glowed red as they came forward, growling.

Lucy let out another gasp. “I remember these things!” she exclaimed as they all swiftly backed away. The dogs followed, snarling and baring their metal teeth. “There was a blueprint for a robot guard dog that landed on my desk last year. The lead inventor wanted to know if I could program them so that lasers could shoot out of their eyes.”

“Please say you did not,” Oliver said, keeping his cane between himself and the snarling dogs. Beside him, Phoebe had sunk into some kind of martial arts stance, arms held out like a ninja.

“No,” Lucy admitted, much to Shinji’s relief. “Lasers were too hard to figure out. But…um…there was something else.…”

The dog closest to Oliver stepped forward, growling. Its glowing eyes blazed red as it faced the ex-pirate, who kept the golden head of his cane pointed at it.“Intruders,”said a very robotic, mechanical voice.“Surrender now.”

“Oh, they talk,” Oliver said. “That’s charming.”

“Surrender now,”the dog went on, still baring its teeth at Oliver and Phoebe.“Put down your weapons. Or we will be forced to dispose of you.”

“Dispose of us?” Roux echoed. “No thank you. That sounds painful.”

“Also, what weapons?” Shinji added. “We don’t have any weapons, unless you count a wooden cane with a parrot head as a deadly weapon.”

Lucy shook her head. “Don’t bother talking to them,” she whispered. “They’re not intelligent. They can’t make informed decisions. They’re just following a protocol.”

“Surrender,”repeated the dog in its flat, robotic voice.“Lower your weapons or we will dispose of you. You have five seconds to comply.”

“Kids,” Oliver said as everyone tensed. “Listen to me. The mission doesn’t change. We’ll keep these things occupied. You find the idol and get out. Don’t worry about us.”

“Five…four…”

“What?” Shinji exclaimed. “No way we’re leaving you.”

“Three…two…”

“We’ll be fine. Just go.”

“One.”

With a roar, the dogs attacked. Jaws gaping, they lunged, and Oliver and Phoebe leaped forward to meet them. Oliver’s cane lashed out, smacking a dog in the head. There was a loud, metallic clank as the golden parrot connected with the

canine’s metal skull, but the dog didn’t seem to notice. It snapped at Oliver viciously, and he barely spun away.

Phoebe dodged the attack of the second dog, then stepped forward and punched it in the ribs with a loudHi-ya!

“Ow!” she yelped, shaking her hand as she danced away. “Note to self: Punching metal creatures is rather inefficient, and hurts quite a lot. Oliver!” she called, still retreating from the attacking metal Doberman, “this doesn’t seem to be working. I suggest we try something else.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Oliver said, scrambling away from the first robot dog. He swung at it with his cane, and the dog’s teeth clamped down on the parrot head. “Hey! No, bad dog—let go of that. That’s mine.”

The dog growled, tugging at the cane. Suddenly there was a crack, and the robot backed away with the golden parrot head clutched in its jaws. Oliver groaned and threw up his hand.

“Oh, come on, that was my favorite cane. I’ll have you know that it’s a one-of-a-kind golden Duncan parrot head, not a chew toy.”

The dog growled. Spitting out the head, it lunged at Oliver again, who leaped atop a stack of crates to avoid it. Scrambling to the top of the pile, he bumped into Phoebe, who had done the same thing. “Oh, hey, fancy running into you here,” he said, stepping back as the dog leaped at him, jaws snapping at his feet. “Come here often?”

Phoebe kicked a dog in the nose, sending it crashing

back down to the floor. The robot dog didn’t seem fazed or hurt in any way as it bounced to its feet. It continued to leap at them, metal jaws snapping with hollow clanking sounds.

Shinji peered out from behind the stack of pallets where he had retreated with Lucy and Roux. “We’ve gotta help them,” he said, clenching his fists in frustration as he watched the battle. “Lucy, those dogs are partly electronic, right? Can you get Tinker to hack into one?”

“Not from here,” Lucy said, sounding frantic as she watched the scene in the center of the room. Oliver and Phoebe had retreated to the highest crate and were fending off leaping dog attacks with kicks and a broken cane. “Maybe if he was closer, like if he could physically get onto one, but those dogs are jumping around so much, there’s no way he’ll be able to do it.”

“Wait,” Roux said. “So, you’re saying your rat needs to be touching a dog to have a chance of stopping it? Like sitting on its back?”

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